Cash and banking solutions for travellers

Monday October 29th, 2018

Cash free of charge

Even before our time as sailors we travelled a lot. Over 100 countries are on our list. It has always been an issue how to manage your finances on the go. Online banking is a great relief, which now is offered by every bank. It still remains the question how to handle cash and security with credit cards.

For many years we travel with the “Weltkonto”. This is a package of Deutsche Kreditbank, perfectly suited for travellers. The account is free, the VISA card as well. But the big hit is that withdrawing cash with the VISA card is free of charge in the local currency at any ATM. If you are used to travel with US dollars, the change fee is much more expensive – apart from the risk that you carry too much US cash.

If we arrive somewhere we will withdraw cash as much as we need for the day with the “Weltkonto” VISA card at the next ATM. We do not store any more cash in the ship and unused currencies do not fly around with us. Nobody ever wanted to relieve us of our cash. But if it does, the loss will be manageable. And if the credit card is lost, we use the “Weltkonto” emergency service. It guarantees that we have a replacement card within two days. Not bad either: the free partner card. If a card falls overboard, there remains a second one. I don’t now any better, safer and more convenient finance solution while traveling.